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The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 2013, Pages 32­33

Special Report

Portugal Celebrates Islamic Art, Past and Present, With AgaKhan Awards

By Marvine Howe

Part of the revitalized Birzeit Historic Center. (Photo courtesy Riwaq Photo Archive)

Part of the revitalized Birzeit Historic Center. (Photo courtesy Riwaq Photo Archive)

“Sitting in a village in the center of Palestine, you have the feeling that nobody knows about you in the midst of allthe upheaval of the Arab Spring; then some people notice you, and it makes you feel very good,” said Suad Amiryafter ceremonies in honor of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2013, held in September in the Portuguesecapital.

Amiry, better known as the author of Sharon and My Mother­in­Law, is founder of the Palestinian NGO Riwaq, awinner of this year’s Aga Khan Award for the Revitalization of Birzeit Historic Center. The international jury said theBirzeit project “manages to transform not only a neglected historic core but also people’s lives, and restores notonly buildings but the dignity of their users.”

Suad Amiry (r) with former Riwaq director Nazmi Ju’beh. (Photo courtesy RiwaqPhoto Archive)

Besides the Birzeit revitalization, four other projects—chosen from nearly 500 entries—share the 2013 architecturalprize of $1 million: the rehabilitation of the Tabriz Bazaar in Iran, the Salam Cardiac Center in Sudan, the Hassan IIBridge in Morocco, and the first Islamic cemetery in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg.

Although Portugal was not among the prize winners, nor even represented on the jury, the Architectural Awardassumed the importance of a national celebration of Islamic art, past and present. The award ceremony took placein Lisbon’s Sao Jorge Castle, with its Moorish fortifications, in the presence of the president and foreign minister ofPortugal, the mayor of Lisbon, leaders of Lisbon’s Sunni and Ismaili communities, and the Aga Khan.Simultaneously, the City of Lisbon inaugurated an exhibit on “Architecture: the Islamic Heritage in Portugal” in SaoJorge’s main exhibition hall, with the cooperation of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Calouste GulbenkianFoundation. The exhibit features recent excavations of art produced during the Muslim rule in Portugal from 711­1245, and will be open to the public until Jan. 6, 2014.

Addressing the assembly of Portuguese personalities, diplomats and leaders of the country’s small Islamiccommunity (about 80,000 in a population of 10 million), Prince Karim Aga Khan noted that this was only thesecond time the award ceremony was held in a predominantly Christian country (Spain having been the first, in1998), and praised Portugal’s “spirit of pluralism and a respect for diversity.” The Ismaili leader explained he set upthe architectural prize in 1977 out of concern that the Islamic world was in danger of losing its “proud architecturalheritage.” He cited as reasons the ”colonial impact on Islamic cultures” and the impression that Islamicarchitecture seemed “consumed by a growing passion to be truly ‘modern.’”

This year’s projects were more “socially oriented” than those of the past, according to Farrokh Derakhshani,director of the architectural awards, which are presented every three years. He stressed that the prize was not justabout restoration or new models of buildings, but rather “the impact on the environment and its users.”

Riwaq decided to do “rehabilitation through job creation” in 2000, after then­Prime Minister Ariel Sharon barredsome 150,000 Palestinians—many in the construction industry—from working in Israel, Amiry said in an interview.The Revitalization of Birzeit Historic Center was launched in 2005. Like other Palestinian villages, Birzeit hadsuffered from the general decline in rural life after 1967, and its situation worsened when Birzeit University moved

to Ramallah in the 1980s. Now, numerous old limestone buildings have been restored as cultural institutions,tourist accommodations and residences; streets have been paved and public spaces created for a playground andgardens. Five NGOs and a post office have moved in. Birzeit has become a model for Riwaq’s ambitous “50Cities” program. “If the historic centers are improved and more services provided, people and jobs will come,”Amiry declared optimistically.

LEFT: Iran’s Tabriz Bazaar; RIGHT: The Hassan II Bridge, connecting Rabat and Sale,Morocco. (Photos courtesy of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture)

LEFT: Iran’s Tabriz Bazaar; RIGHT: The Hassan II Bridge, connecting Rabat and Sale,Morocco. (Photos courtesy of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture)

The Tabriz Bazaar is said to be the world’s largest covered market, extending over 67 acres and housing some5,500 shopkeepers. Dating back to the 10th century, it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1780 and rebuilt. By theend of the 20th century, the traditional brick buildings were badly deteriorated, customers had declined, and thebazaar was slated for demolition. Then ICHTO, the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization ofEast Azerbaijan province, took up the rehabilitation project. Akhbar Taghizadeh, an architect with ICHTO, told apress conference that to persuade the bazaaris to participate in the project, a pilot project was launched, with thegovernment paying 90 percent of the cost. Now customers have returned, the bazaaris are paying 90 percent ofthe costs, and everyone is happy, he said.

The Hassan II Bridge, designed by French architect Marc Mimram, is much more than a link between theMoroccan capital of Rabat and its country cousin Sale. The sleek, low­lying bridge was designed to be “connectedto the social landscape and the people,” according to the architect. There are separate lanes for pedestrians,tramway and vehicles, and underneath, place for a new covered public space.

LEFT: The Salam Cardiac Center outside Khartoum, Sudan. RIGHT: The Muslim cemetaryin Altach, Austria. (Photos courtesy of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture)

LEFT: The Salam Cardiac Center outside Khartoum, Sudan. RIGHT: The Muslim cemetary inAltach, Austria. (Photos courtesy of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture)

In 2004, an Italian NGO named Emergency, specializing in medical treatment for war victims, proposed to theSudanese government the establishment of a state­of­the­art hospital for cardiovascular diseases in a suburb ofKhartoum. The Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery was designed by Italian architects of Studio Tamassociati andopened for free­of­charge treatment in May 2007. The one­story hospital has three operating theaters and 63 beds,a guest house for relatives, a prayer and meditation pavilion, and housing for the medical staff in 95 containerswith a double­shell insulation and bamboo panels.

Until recently, the Muslim community of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg sent their dead for burial to their countriesof origin: Turkey, Bosnia, Chechnya, North Africa—a costly process. Acceding to requests from the Islamiccommunities, the Vorlarlberg Association of Municipalities agreed to the construction of Austria’s second Islamiccemetery in the Alpine city of Altach in 2008—the first, in Vienna, is only for local Muslims. Austrian architectBernardo Bader built the cemetery, with lattice­like rose­colored concrete walls, five graveyards oriented towardMecca, and a one­story building for meetings and prayers. Speaking to journalists in Lisbon, architect EvaGrabherr acknowledged that there is Islamophobia in Austria. “Cemeteries raise fewer problems than mosques,”she added. “It’s more difficult for people to be against a cemetery.”

Marvine Howe, former New York Times bureau chief in Ankara, is the author of Al Andalus Rediscovered: Iberia’sNew Muslims and Other Minorities (available from the AET Book Club).